Lowest maintenance outdoor finish?

I’m going to build a couple sitting benches for our local Mission and I was thinking about the best way to finish them that requires the least maintenance. I actually think I may just not finish them and let them go to a gray patina, but other than that what are my options? I assume everything else will require bleaching and restaining on at least a yearly basis.

8 replies so far

I agree that no finish will require the least maintenance. However, I refinished this door in June 2012 with Sikkens Cetol Door and Window and it looks just as good today. It is located in Ft Worth, Tx and gets afternoon sun.

Lowest maintenance outdoors is what is used on the outside of wooden houses…Paint. You can use paint with no color added to it. It goes on white and dries clear. Has UV protection like tinted paint does.

Paint is undoubtedly the lowest maintenance coating you could use. If you want a clear finish, I’d still go with paint….but it would be untinted, oil based, exterior paint. Using the highest number paint base in a brand (#4 for most, or maybe #5) will give you a varnish like finish that will last for several years before it needs recoated, and it’s a lot less expensive than true marine spar varnishes. Should you choose this, test the brand you choose first: open the can and swill a paint paddle in it, wipe it off….if it’s clear you’re good to go. Most of them look a little cloudy in the can, but look very much like varnish once dry.

I asked about the untinted oil-based paint option here and gave it a whirl on a client’s door that gets a lot of sun. It failed as badly as marine varnish did. He finally asked me to paint the door green this year as he was tired of looking at peeling and blistering. It will still need repainting every couple of years but much easier to feather things in.